


When in Limbo

by fanficwriter013



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: FLUFF I SWEAR, It's not really character death, Soulmates AU, it's limbo yo, maybe minor angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2019-01-06 21:45:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12219552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanficwriter013/pseuds/fanficwriter013
Summary: You’ve been dead for longer than you can remember, and stuck in your ghost town of a Limbo. What happens when one day you literally run into another person, Sam Wilson.





	When in Limbo

You don’t remember your death. You know you’re dead, you’ve been stuck in Limbo for eons. You weren’t sure how long it was, all the days and nights blurred together. If there even were days in this place, time still felt like it was passing. You had been alone, in this ghost town of Limbo. Your days were all the same. Wandering through the streets, looking for someone that you knew was never going to be here. In Limbo, any time you looked in a mirror you could only see half of yourself. It was like a Dali painting, the surrealistic look that your reflection took on in this place. Every mirror was different, some have you a glimpse at a patch of forehead, and hair. Others would show you a nose, and a left eye. More would show you a chin, a right ear, and a bottom lip. So if you walked around enough you could put together a clear mental picture of what you looked like.

  
It was what felt like a Thursday, and that meant it was time to collect supplies for entertainment during the week. The only good thing about Limbo was that while you didn’t have to eat, there was an endless supply of food available. Plus, you could eat anything and everything you fancied without gaining a single ounce of weight.

  
You were on what you called Fishhook road because it was shaped like a fishhook, when you heard some rummaging noises. This was the first time you’d heard noises that weren’t caused by you. Your first thought was to be alarmed, but then you remembered that you were already dead. What further harm could come to you? You forgot about the noises continuing on your hunt for things to get you through the week.

  
You’d just picked up a new lamp, to take back and check to see if it worked. If it didn’t you’d try and fix it, and that would be a good challenge for you. When you heard some more noises, and since there was nothing better for you to do. There was a trail of clanking and clunking noises for you to follow. Leading you back toward the junkyard. You rounded an aisle of the junkyard.

  
“Who the hell are you??” You ask in shock of this person that had just suddenly appeared in your Limbo. That had your heart been working would have surely made you feel like you were going to have a heart attack. The man turns to give you an exasperated look.

  
“Who the hell am I? No, who the hell are you?” He shoots back at you, looking over a metallic backpack of sorts. You narrow your eyes at him.

  
“I’m (Y/N) (Y/L/N), and this is my Limbo.” You tell him, taking the backpack back. It had been in your shopping cart of supplies for the week.

  
“No, I’m Sam Wilson, this is my Limbo. And why the hell do you have my wings?” He asks, shifting into a more defensive stance. Almost like he’s ready to fight you, but also so that he could take off in an instant.

  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve been alone in here for many years.” You say, and this guy, Sam, points to the backpack.

  
“That’s my flight suit, and I want to know why you have it.” You tilt your head to the side, looking at him questioningly. He picks up the backpack, shrugging it on before he steps back a little bit. In a fluid movement, the backpack is moving and red metallic wings are being extended.

  
“I just found that today, in a spot that I’d checked previously and it hadn’t been there before. Which I would think means you’re new here. And that Limbo is manifesting your stuff here. To make you feel comfortable.” You theorize, eyes examining the wings. The man gives you a strange look, before flipping the wings back into the suit.

  
“You don’t recognize me?” He asks like he’s been used to being mobbed by people for a while. You shake your head. “Okay, I’ll give it to you. This is your Limbo. You must have been in here for quite some time.” Sam muses, and you nod.

  
“After a hundred days you tend to lose count.” You joke, flashing him a bright smile. He looks torn between appall and laughter. “It’s alright, that was a joke. I don’t remember how I died, and this place wasn’t so bad.” You explain to him and see him visibly soften.

  
“I don’t remember how I died either, what I do remember is. Being on a mission with the Avengers, and then waking up here.” Sam tells you. “That was what feels like a year ago.” He says, and you nod.

  
“Time runs differently in Limbo.” You tell him, and he nods. “I think a year in here is about a week back on the world of the living.” You’re trying to make a joke, but then you have a serious question. “Wait for a second, what if we’re from different realms? Is that a possibility?” You ask, trying to remember your living life to search for any validation that other worlds existed.

  
“That is a possibility. But why would we wind up in the same Limbo?” Sam asks you, and this sparks an idea in your mind.

  
“Have you looked at your reflection in here?” You ask, and Sam shakes his head. “Well, in here your reflection is never whole. What if, and this is just a half baked theory, but what if Limbo is about finding your other half. Your soulmate?” You explain, knowing that the idea sounds crazy.

  
“Okay, first off. Cool it we just met. Second, I don’t really believe in all that sappy mumbo jumbo. So, we’re going to come up with an alternative for why I happen to have landed in your Limbo.” Sam says, he sounds more annoyed than anything else. You put your hands up, silently relenting the point.

  
“It was just a theory, no need to be all crotchety about it. And you’re not my type anyway.” You shoot back at him. He smiles slyly at you while quirking an eyebrow.

  
“What tall, dark handsome superhero isn’t your type? Alright.” The way he says it, so sure of himself. Like he was a womanizer in his days on the World of the Living.

  
“No, cocky jackass who jumps to conclusions isn’t my type.” You snark, turning to gather your things. You weren’t sure why, but half of you expected him to stop you. The other half was busy wondering who had hurt this man to cause this level of bravado. He didn’t stop you, he just let you walk away taking his wings with you.

* * *

  
It was a busy week spent carefully skirting streets, and sticking close to your house. As much time as you had spent wishing for another person to talk to, you weren’t ready to face the one person that had shown up in your Limbo. And it seemed like your Limbo was respecting your decision, until the next Friday night.

  
You’d just settled in for the night, trying to get some sleep to pass time when you heard it. The screaming. You’d never heard screaming in here, hell the only thing you heard in here was yourself. But now there was this blood-curdling scream, and it was echoing around your house.

  
You scrambled up, grabbing a baseball bat and shrugging on the wings you had stolen. You weren’t exactly sure what was going on, but if there was something going on this Sam would need his wings.

  
Once you got outside, it was harder to pinpoint where the constant screaming was coming from. It was echoing around the streets like it was being played on a speaker system. You finally picked a direction and took off. You guess you picked the right direction since the screaming only got louder. Which made following the sound both harder and easier, until you found yourself in front of another house.

  
You hesitated before entering slowly, cautiously, and bat first. You silently crept through the house, upstairs where you realized that the screaming was probably nightmare induced. You’d only had one nightmare in Limbo but it was six thousand times worse than any you had when you were alive. Opening the door, you confirmed that Sam was having a nightmare. You didn’t even think about the repercussions, you were at his side and shaking him awake.

  
He startled awake, sitting straight up and glancing around wildly. “Hey, you’re alright. You were having a nightmare. They’re a doozy in here.” You softly say, as the man finally wakes up enough to realize what had happened.

  
“And you’re going to be able to fix that with a baseball bat?” He snarks at you, and you shake your head.

  
“All I heard was the screaming, it was played around in the streets like a radio station. I wasn’t sure what was going on.” You explain, turning and leaning the bat again the wall.

  
“Are you wearing my wings?” He asks in an accusatory tone. You shrug them off, setting them down next to the baseball bat.

  
“I told you. I had no idea what was happening. And I thought that if we were in danger you’d like to have your wings.” You explain, and you can see him searching your face for a sign that you’re lying. Like he’s got issues trusting people.

  
“That’s awfully thoughtful, considering you stalked off the other day after having called me a jackass and took them with you.” He says, and you shrug.

  
“Well, if you wanna be an asshole about it. I’ll take them back and leave. Let you scream your lungs out next time.” You turn and pick up the baseball bat, heading for the door.

  
“I saw some pretty gruesome stuff when I was alive.” It’s a soft confession, all the bravado is gone from his voice. It sounds like another person is speaking to you. You turn to look at him, and there almost is another person echoed through the soft, defeated, broken body language he is displaying. All you want to do is hug him, but you’re not sure what his boundaries are or triggers, and don’t want to push him. You choose instead to take a seat on the floor.

  
“I’m going to tell you that it’ll fade. But those emotions will stay. I don’t remember much of anything from when I was alive, but I can figure out what I must have been like. I also remember feeling happy, then there’s a stretch of dark twisty emotions before there’s nothing. The nightmares in here are no joke.” You explain, picking at your fingernails. You could also infer that you didn’t like to share your feelings, and trying to comfort this person that had wound up in your Limbo was most definitely outside your comfort zone.

  
“Dark twisty was my life. There’s things that I don’t talk about that I have issues with, and obviously those.” Sam pauses, making you look up to see that he’s pointing to the wing backpack on the floor. “Mean I saw things people don’t want to see on a regular basis.” He says, the undertones conferring to you that this man no doubt has PTSD and that would explain the nightmares.

  
“The good thing would be that you don’t actually have to sleep in here.” You say, trying to lighten the mood. “Although, I discovered that when I didn’t sleep for two months because of my own nightmare.” You finish, with an involuntary shudder at the flashes of your nightmare that resurfaced.

  
This seemed to open the floodgates, and the two of you were able to talk. It wasn’t about anything deep, and it was often in circles. Or Sam was asking you questions about Limbo. The conversation seemed to have a natural rhythm to it, and while you didn’t learn much about him, there was never a lull in the conversation. You’d come to the conclusion that he put on a bravado to hide exactly how broken he was inside.

* * *

  
You woke with a start, scanning the room you were in. It was unfamiliar to you, and you started to panic before an arm tightened around your waist. Your brain finally puts together the pieces, but you weren’t quite sure when you’d gotten from the floor to the bed. You looked at Sam, who was watching you.

  
“Nothing says good morning like a panic attack.” He says, rolling onto his back, and crossing his arms over his stomach. “You fell asleep on the floor, and I couldn’t just leave you there. Didn’t look like you’d be comfortable.” He explains to you.

  
“I’d have been alright, most of these beds are too soft anyway. Feels like I’ll sink in and never be able to get back out.” You say, and Sam turns on his side to look at you.

  
“What did you just say?” He asks you in a hushed tone, almost accusatory. You shake your head.

  
“I have an issue with beds that are too soft, did I say something wrong?” You ask, and now Sam shakes his head.

  
“No, that just sounds eerily similar to something I told Steve. But that’s because we both served, and those cots. Well, you’re better off sleeping on the floor.” Sam says, and you have to try to remember if you had served in anything when you had been alive.

  
“It’s alright, I know you don’t remember your life. Don’t hurt yourself looking for answers you don’t have.” Sam says, and you shake your head.

  
“It’s not fair to you, that you have to share all these stories, and all I can tell you is that I like to tinker with the broken shit I find in here.” You tell him. He gives you a small, pained smile.

  
“I have a friend, and I use that term loosely because he’s a huge pain in the ass. That I think you might get along with.” Sam says, and you can see the facade start to chip away.

  
“Basically anything in here that’s working, besides what’s in this house. Was fixed by me. Apparently, I like the challenge.” You say, and Sam’s lips quirk into a little smirk. You just know that you’re in trouble, and you brace yourself from the snarky comment that’s to come.

  
“Do you think that’s why your Limbo sucked me in. Because it thinks I’m a challenge that you can solve.” He half asks you, and you’re not sure if he’s serious or not. You gape at him until his laughs. “It’s self-deprecating humor. There’s no need to look at me like that, soulmates theory.” Sam jabs at you, and it’s your turn to laugh.

  
“Alright, you got me. Truce over breakfast?” You ask, stretching out your limbs. Before forcing yourself to get up.

  
“Only if you’re cooking. I made enough breakfasts back in the day, and my friends ate like there was no tomorrow.” He says, stretching but not getting up.  
“Well, then you’ll just have to see what I can do.” You tease as you head out of the room, to find the kitchen.

  
Since that day, and a really nice breakfast spread, you found out a lot about Sam. There was still something that he wasn’t telling you behind the wings, but you weren’t going to press the issue if he wasn’t ready to talk about it. While he was confident, he wasn’t exactly the cocky jackass that you’d run into.

  
You were able to learn all about his friends, a team he called the Avengers. Sam would tell you stories of their missions, and down times. You learned, accidentally, that Sam slept better when he could curl around you.

  
You’d been talking, or rather Sam was telling one of his hilarious stories about Thor’s antics. You’d been curled up in a recliner that came with the house that Sam seemed to like. The next thing you knew, you were woken up because you were moving. You cracked an eye.

  
“S’alright, I can go home.” You sleepily tell him, stretching your arms up into his face. He headbutts your hands.

  
“That was barely above a whisper, and it’s not like you haven’t slept over before. You don’t snore, and you don’t hog the bed. It’s fine.” Sam says, setting you down on the bed. You study his face for a moment before you make yourself comfortable.

  
Sam slept through the night that night, and then you started to notice that he would stick around after dinner, or have you stick around after dinner. Sharing a bed became common.

  
“Alright, Wilson. What’s the play here?” You asked, as the man in question curled into your side in your bed. He was half asleep, and you couldn’t bring yourself to force him to walk home.

  
“No play. You chase the nightmares away.” He spoke low as if he was trying to make sure you couldn’t hear him. You give him a playful shove.

  
“Did the big bad Falcon just admit that he needs a common civilian to protect him?” You tease, and he groans.

  
“Don’t let it go to your head, it’s already big enough.” He teases you back, lifting his head from where it was nuzzled into your neck.

  
“I’ve seen you staring. I know you think the size is just right.” You tease him back, those warm chocolatey eyes stared into yours. Then the two of you are kissing, lips dancing against each others in a way that’s reminiscent of getting a fresh breath of air.

  
The kiss sparks something in you and you pull back from him. “I remember everything.” It was almost overwhelming the flood of memories that swept over you as the dam broke. You could remember why you had issues with beds, the answer being that you were a field medic. You remembered your parents and the friends that would make you do embarrassing things with them. You remembered the surgeries you’d done and the ones that you had needed for yourself. You even remembered your death.

  
Since that day, your connection with Sam grew deeper. It helped that you now had stories to tell, memories to entertain him with. You’d also noticed that now when you walked past a mirror the reflection was starting to get clearer. Now you could see about the same side of your face at once. No longer fragmented parts. But you weren’t going to bring up your theory again.

  
It’d been around two years in the real world, which was more years than you could count in Limbo. When Sam sat you down for a dinner.

  
“I’ve been feeling this pull like I’m needed somewhere else. Or that Limbo thinks I’m ready to move on.” Sam tells you, and you can only stare at him. He waves a hand in front of your face.

  
“Don’t look at me like that. Let me speak, and you’ll understand.” He continues, waiting for you to give some indicator that you won’t interrupt him. His stare forcing you to give him a nod.

  
“Alright, so listen closely because what I’m about to say is something I don’t do often. And if you gloat, it’ll never happen again.” Sam says, and you raise an eyebrow at him. He chuckles before taking a deep breath.

  
“You were right. From that very first day, you had Limbo all figured out. That soulmates theory that I shot down because even though I’m insanely suave and handsome. Well, I never had much luck back on Earth. I’ve been burnt a few times too many times and while I know now that, and this is going to get really sappy. That you complete me, that you challenge me to be better and it’s a shame we never crossed paths in the land of the living.

  
But now that we’ve found each other, and I’ve finally accepted that soulmates are a thing and that you’re mine. We don’t have any reason to stay in Limbo. It’s time to move on and I know you’ve felt it too.” Sam says, reaching across the table to take your hand. You follow the movement ignoring eye contact for a minute. He rubs soothing circles into the back of your hand.

  
“I just, what if. We could just stay here, it’s nice here.” You say, and Sam chuckles.

  
“Sure, it’s nice here. Because you fixed everything, and seem to be able to summon things at will. But what about my friends? Your friends? Family? They’ve got to be on the other side waiting. What’s really holding you back, (Y/N)?” Sam asks, in a soft tone. It’s almost pleading.

  
“It’s stupid.” You tell him, and he raises an eyebrow at you, encouraging you to finish your sentence. “I just. What if they don’t like me?” You ask, and Sam chuckles softly.

  
“I could ask the same thing about your side.” He says. “But I can tell you that my team, my friends, my family. Will look at how happy you make me and they will love you. Just the same as I do.” Sam says, and you give him a smirk.

  
“You’re right, you have gotten sappy, Wilson.” You tease, earning a chuckle from him. “But, I love you too, Bird boy. And where you go I go.” You say, and his face breaks into a wide grin. He gets up, offering a hand to you. You take it.

  
“It’s now or never, right?” Sam asks, and you nod as you tuck yourself against his side. Fitting against him like how the last puzzle piece finishes off the puzzle. The two of you walked linked together toward the magnetic force that is urging you out of Limbo.

  
And that’s how you found your soulmate and your happily ever after life.


End file.
